One Last Thing
by Liu Wei
Summary: Narumi is finally about to leave the Academy and everything he had tried to change in hopes that the next generation will pick up where he left off. There's just one problem: it seems he still has unfinished business with the new headmistress.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: I thought I'd write up something like a prequel to "Café Starbuko". The slim possibility of this unusual pairing presented an interesting challenge. Hee.

Though now I'm not sure anymore if this story will go as planned and lead to the events of the aforementioned fic. Maybe it will, maybe it'll be a completely different story altogether. I'm just writing it as it comes. 'Wingin' it, you might say. XD

For NAtaku TAishi/Nerva al'Thor, who shares my interest in this bizarre pairing. Also for Ica, who started this madness.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

**One Last Thing**

He'd always loved seeing the students off on graduation day. Watching the students succeed gave him a sort of fulfillment, and also, he liked dreaming. While looking at each student who climbed the stage, he hoped they would use their alices as he hoped they would, for the good of others. And, maybe, some of them might come back to help the Academy change, like he did.

Admittedly, nothing much changed. He'd become headmaster, led the school for eight years, and yet students were still being treated as before, and if anything, more and more of the children were becoming restless. Like for example, that Dangerous Ability girl who killed a student during the escape attempt that year. Poor boy…

But it wasn't like Narumi to dwell to in the bad times, was it? At least he'd managed to see some kids grow up to be fine individuals.

Like Ruka, for example. Kind, as he had always been, but the boy disliked the Academy then. My, Narumi didn't expect that one to return and teach.

Another notable student, and the more surprising, was Hotaru. Of her batch, she looked the least likely to give a monkey's bottom about anyone, and here she was, the new headmistress.

Narumi smiled to himself as he stood under a tree at the very end of the courtyard. The wind whipped at his coat and blonde hair, as well as the togas of the students who sat in rows facing the stage. On it, Imai Hotaru gave her closing speech after giving the graduates their diplomas.

She HAD changed. Not because she was doing a speech, of course. It was because she had agreed to become the headmistress in the first place.

The blonde could not stay. He glanced one last time at the woman on the stage, and then walked off. The Academy was in good hands.

x x x

"You forgot your…paper weight."

"Thank you, Noburu-san, but you can have that." Narumi looked up from his luggage to smile at his employer. "Think of it as my parting gift."

The old man blinked and stared down at said paper weight. It was a figure of a naked man in a barrel. The barrel could actually be lifted off him, and…Well, let's just say he thought the thing was vulgar.

Actually that had been a gift from Ruka, who said he got him from someone else. While the toy amused him for a while, Narumi could get rid of it. He wondered how many people had already passed it down…

Noburu was probably thinking of throwing it away or refusing it, but being the polite man that he as, merely muttered a half-hearted thanks and walked off. Meanwhile, Narumi continued to pack.

He'd only been working in the Central Town bookstore for a few months, so he couldn't believe how much he had to pack. Maybe he should leave more of his paper weights behind.

Why did students keep giving him paper weights anyway? Not that he didn't appreciate the Christmas gifts he'd been given over the years, but they could have thought of a change. Socks would be nice. Or an authentic Victorian dress—that would have been _really_ nice.

A picture frame fell from the bed where he had placed his brief case. Narumi picked it up and smiled.

It was a graduation photo of him and his former homeroom class. Mikan was waving frantically in front.

"Now why didn't any one of them see me off?" he said to himself. Natsume was in Central Town, like he was. Ruka was surely not sick enough to not come for a visit, and Hotaru…

Ha. As if she would bother herself for that.

But not even _one_ student? Aww. He wasn't _that_ weird a teacher, was he? No parting gifts for any of them!

Really, none. He didn't have the money.

After a few moments of his mental tantrum, he closed his briefcase and made for the door…

Only to find someone standing at the doorway.

"Hotaru?"

x x x

Hotaru's blank eyes met his equally indigo ones, only his were wider.

"You sound surprised." Her voice was level, with the faintest hint of amusement. None of it could be read on her face, though. Not even the mild disappointment at him sounding like she wasn't wanted there.

Narumi composed himself and chuckled, shaking his head. "No, just...Well yes, surprised. Is there something wrong at the school?"

She often came to him, asking for advice. Of course she wasn't going there because she lacked competence; she only valued his experience and insight. Though sometimes the conversation would sometimes wander to friendlier topics…But that wasn't her fault. Narumi had a gift for socializing. Come to think of it, Hotaru became more open around him.

"No, nothing wrong. I'm much more competent than the last headmaster." She said this with a smirk.

It was an old joke. Narumi merely did a mock pout, doing an effeminate gesture of touching his chest. "That hurt, Hotaru. Even from you."

Well, he WAS sacked. But that was beside the point. Back to business. "How does dinner sound?"

Again, Narumi stared. Hotaru could shoot him with her Moron Gun for looking so darn stupid all the time.

"Dinner?"

"Yes. We're celebrating the fact that you're leaving."

The blonde burst into a chuckle and glanced at his briefcase. "You really mean that?"

"Of course. Good riddance." she replied sarcastically.

"You break my heart, Hotaru." He sounded sincerely hurt.

She SHOULD pull out her gun and…

"So where will you bring me? Not somewhere shady, I hope." His casual tone had returned.

Hotaru's lips quirked up. If anyone thought Narumi was easy to read, they were dead wrong.

x x x

Hotaru had good taste, Narumi noted as he looked around the place. They were in what looked like a four-star restaurant with waiters and customers in formal attire. Compared to them, Narumi looked drab in his simple shirt and slacks.

"Maybe I should go get a coat." he said, looking down at his clothes. "I look ghastly."

"Don't be ridiculous." Was it him or did she sound amused? "You look fine."

"I don't _feel_ like it."

The waiter who met them at the door showed them to a table by the windows. Being the gentleman that he was, Narumi pulled the chair back for her.

"What will you have, Sir?"

Narumi shook his head. "Oh, no. Let the lady order first."

The waiter nodded and turned to Hotaru. Meanwhile, the blonde once again studied his surroundings. Wooden panels lined the walls, as well as mirrors. It looked as if ornate wooden mirror frames surrounded them. The tables were of black wood, as well as the chairs. The dim, yellowish lights worked quite well with the mood. A decorative lamp was in the center of his table, as well as the other tables.

"Narumi?"

Hotaru's voice brought his attention back to the waiter. After a quick browse through the menu, he ordered for himself.

"Won't anybody else be coming?" Narumi asked.

"No."

"Oh? Just the two of us, huh?"

"Yes."

"My. Am I that unpopular or does no one know you arranged this little date?"

Hotaru did not answer and instead pulled out a small, colorful box with a lever. It was a Jack in the Box. She looked back at him, her face unreadable. "I arranged this so you could help me with something. I-"

"Champagne, Sir, Madame?"

The waiter had returned. Narumi had a glass poured for him, while Hotaru declined. When he had left, she immediately continued.

"As I was saying-"

"STOP THAT MAN!"

Narumi turned to see a man running through the restaurant, a waiter right behind him. Maybe he'd skipped the bill? The waiter was a fast; he'd caught up with the man and jumped at him from behind. There was a loud thud and an "Ow!" when they hit the carpet.

"Ouch." Narumi cringed. "Dear me, so much commotion in a restaurant like this…"

"Ignore him." Hotaru told him just as Narumi was about to stand to watch the two wrestle on the floor.

"What was it you were going to say?"

Hotaru pushed the box towards him and, with her hand still touching it, she said, "This is a lie detector, something I invented in middle school."

Narumi frowned at her.

"Don't be mistaken, it's more accurate than anything the police have. What I want you to do is answer my questions truthfully."

The blonde began to smile. "A game? I really don't-"

"You will not lie to me." she cut off, pulling out at familiar-looking gun. "You wouldn't like it."

Her former teacher froze and stared at her.

"By the way, I also have these." she placed some pictures on the table, and Narumi's jaw dropped.

They were pictures of him and former students, male or female. Narumi remembered the scenes to be completely innocent, but in the angle in which the pictures were taken…

"How did you get these?"

"None of your business." she answered coolly, placing her hands on her lap. "Now, I think you'll be telling me the truth.

He was still staring. It was unbelievable.

"First question. Have you ever used your alice on me?"

"What?" His voice had already sounded panicky.

"Answer the question." Hotaru started fiddling with a dial on her gun.

If he was standing, Narumi could have backed himself to a wall. Watching the hand that held the gun, he answered, "Y-yes."

The woman's violet eyes turned to him, and a finger rested on the Moron Gun's trigger. "How often?"

_Now_ she sounded threatening.

"Once." the blonde answered nervously, glancing at her lie detector.

Hotaru looked at it too, but quickly returned her gaze to him.

"When?"

Narumi paused. How did the lie detector work? Was it like the ones who measured how nervous someone was? Probably not, considering he was practically sweating buckets.

"In high school…" he answered slowly. Nothing happened to the Jack in the Box. Strangely, Hotaru lowered her gun. "…I borrowed your hologram wardrobe, remember? That's how I got it without a fuss."

The raven-haired woman observed him for a few moments, glancing at the lie detector on the table. They were both so silent that when Hotaru spoke, the former headmaster jumped.

"I see." The box, pictures, and Moron Gun disappeared insider her bag. "So that's why I didn't get any money from you then."

Narumi allowed himself to relax, but he couldn't speak just yet. What was _that_ all about?

The waiter returned, and Hotaru smiled at the blonde. "Now, let's have dinner."

He gaped at her. It was amazing how smoothly she could change from intimidating to cordial.

"Narumi…" Hotaru spoke again after a while, frowning at him. "…you're being oddly quiet today."

_He_ was being odd? What was the lie detector for? And why was she wondering if he'd used his alice on her and didn't get angry that he had?

"And by the way…"

Narumi started. Her hand had moved towards her bag.

BAKA!

The projectile hit him square on the head, toppling his chair over.

"That's for thinking you can get away with stealing from me."

Narumi remained on the floor while some of the other customers started abandoning their tables.

x x x

"That wasn't fair."

"You stole from me."

"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it."

"Borrowed without proper permission."

"That was proper permission."

"You used your alice."

"Only a little. Besides, that was years ago. You could have at least let me eaten my fish before knocking me out cold."

The exchange was less heated than it could have been, mostly because Hotaru had already exacted her revenge and Narumi was either suffering from a concussion, afraid of another Moron Gun projectile, or just plain mellow that night. Either way, he was fairly silent as Hotaru drove him back in a small car she built herself. Even the headmistress was silent after their short exchange, but that wasn't too surprising.

"This isn't the book shop." Narumi pointed out when Hotaru drove into a basement parking lot. She turned off the engine, kept her hands on the wheel, and stared ahead.

"I can see that for myself."

Silence.

"You can't possibly still be angry with me." Narumi started. "I'm the one who's just had the worst farewell dinner of my life."

Hotaru ignored him, once in a while glancing at the dashboard. Narumi would glance at it too, wondering what she was looking at. There was a set of gauges, buttons, a small monitor, and a digital clock.

"Is there any reason we're here?" he asked.

"Yes. Wait." was her curt reply.

Narumi went back to sitting quietly in his seat. He observed her idly, noting how much she had changed over the years. Imai Hotaru no longer sported the short, boyish cut, but rather long, raven-haired, evenly cut hair. It framed her face quite nicely, and with her fair complexion gave her the countenance of the perfect Japanese beauty.

She was no soft geisha, of course. But Narumi wondered if those lips of hers would ever smile more often, not smirk or look like she had something under her sleeve. A genuine smile, or better yet a laugh.

Hotaru again looked at the dashboard, and this time, Narumi was able to follow her gaze.

She was looking at the digital clock.

"Is it…?"

It was time. She began unfastening her seatbelt, but after a second frowned and struggled with it. Narumi quickly leaned towards her.

"Let me."

The lock was a tricky one. He had to shake it—violently—a few times and figure out how it actually opened. Hotaru made weird locks. After a couple of minutes of fiddling with it, he heard a small click.

"There." he panted, looking up. He was staring straight at Hotaru's face. Not to mention their faces were only a couple of inches from each other that any slight movement could have their noses touch. Hotaru didn't move and instead raised an eyebrow. She was probably waiting for _him_ to move away, but strangely, he couldn't.

He was so close to those lips he wished would show her emotions more, eyes that were like his in color but entirely different otherwise. It felt nice to stare at them. He didn't even realize their lips had touched.

Eyes snapping open, Narumi jerked back. He'd leaned in too close. "I…sorry." Heart pounding, he squinted to see her eyes in the dim light. They were as blank as ever.

"Pervert." she said.

He knew it; he was DOOMED. There wasn't any space to dodge, and she could blast him before he could open the door behind him. Instead, he threw his arms over his head and braced himself.

Nothing happened.

The blonde opened an eye and peeked from under his forearm. Hotaru was no longer in her seat. Or in the car, for that matter.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to come upstairs?"

Narumi lowered his arms and blinked at the woman who stood outside the car.

-end of chapter one-

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**Footnotes**

The 'barrel' man is sold in at least one city in the Philippines, Baguio. And no, I don't have one. I'd rather have candy or strawberries from Baguio. 8D

Some people actually like staring at pretty lips. Just staring, mind, not kissing.

Whoah, that was long. The next chapter should be shorter. Maybe. I dunno.

I'm not very experienced in writing romance, so reviews are VERY MUCH appreciated. Flame me, type up a two-page list of all things you don't like about my writing, whatever. Just don't say "I hate you, HxR ROXXXX" or anything like that. That's just lame. I think I know how much the pairing sounds like crack without you telling me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He hadn't paid much attention to anything while Hotaru had been driving, so it came as a small surprise when they entered a large lobby. The candy shop visible through the glass doors and the counter that took nearly the space of an entire side of the lobby told him they were in the new hotel that just opened in Central Town that year. He'd been there once before, when he'd been headmaster and delegates of the government came to visit. It wasn't a very big hotel. It had only five stories above ground, so it didn't tower much over the other buildings of Central Town. However, the elaborately decorated ceiling gave the impression of height, and its rooms were spacious enough to rival those of four-star hotels in Tokyo. After all, it housed most important guests of the Academy.

"Sir, Madame." A woman approached them, dressed in the same blue worn by the bellboys who passed by. Narumi figured she might have been waiting for them, the way she just flew to their side in a second. She gave a low bow before addressing Hotaru. "Miss Imai, your room is number 12 on the fourth floor."

The headmistress nodded and said her thanks, and then took the keys before leading Narumi to the lift.

"So what's on the fourth floor?" he asked just to break the silence, when Hotaru pushed the button labeled '4' on the lift's panel.

"You'll see." she said blandly. _Too_ blandly, in fact, that Narumi half expected her to whip out her Moron Cannon and blast him into the wall. Or maybe she had half a dozen alligators waiting for him on the fourth floor. Strange, but he actually _wanted_ her to do any of those things to him. And no, he wasn't suffering from temporary masochism; it was because anything would be better than the silence, which allowed him to think of his actions and feel thoroughly embarrassed. He shouldn't have been daydreaming. More importantly, he shouldn't be staring at women's faces and thinking of their_lips_, more so that it was his former student nearly two_decades_ younger than him.

His nervous guilt trip halted when they came to a room. Narumi watched her apprehensively as she opened the door, and he braced himself for…well, anything.

"Narumi-sensei!"

Hotaru stepped aside with the reflexes of a cat just as a little girl dashed out of the door and caught the blonde in a tackle-hug. Narumi stumbled back, a bit surprised, but at least he already knew why he was brought there.

"So Hotaru-sensei stalled me for this, huh?" he chuckled.

The little girl nodded, beaming up at him. Inside the room, several people, including teachers, former Academy students and even current ones were all beaming at him. Some still had their togas on. A few came out into the hall to usher him inside, and in a moment the former headmaster was drowning in a crowd. He only had a moment to glance in Hotaru's direction and see her watching him with hooded eyes.

* * *

"Nice send-off." Hotaru commented, glancing around the room. It was a rowdy party, as if they were celebrating Narumi's departure. However, she knew it was their way of showing how they cared before the good-natured teacher left. "I didn't realize you'd invited so many." 

Even with the elementary and middle school students already sent to their dormitories (the older guests brought alcohol, so they had to send the kiddies away before bringing those out), it was still a big group.

Anna giggled and poured herself some punch, then swept her long, pink hair into a pony tail. "Well, I didn't know they'd all come. I only invited a few of our batch, and then they brought in students, and then those students brought in lowerclassmen…It all went out of hand."

"So it seems." Hotaru replied dryly, drinking her juice while she sat in the kitchen.

Narumi was in the living room, laughing and drinking the liquors pushed toward him. She didn't realize how much he could hold his liquor before. More surprising was the presence of the current dangerous ability head, Manzairaku. She'd heard from the faculty how that man seemed to hate being around the former headmaster. Knowing Narumi's behavior, she wasn't surprised. And there was Natsume as well. Didn't that boy hate Narumi as a kid? Hotaru couldn't recall when that stopped. In any case, the Fire Alice was being pulled towards a karaoke machine…

"So, how was the date with Narumi?"

Hotaru turned to her old classmate. "I knocked him unconscious and drove him here."

Anna laughed, slapping the headmistress' arm. Hotaru glanced at her arm, blinked, and answered, "That was not a joke."

"Really?" Anna looked incredulous.

"Really."

Anna's mouth opened in an 'o'. "And I thought you too would share a quiet, sweet moment together."

Narumi was over _forty_ and the girl thinks of things like that? What happened to the sweet, albeit a bit clueless chemistry whiz she knew back in school? And_damn her_. Now Hotaru was reminded of the parking lot incident. Narumi was fortunate Hotaru didn't want to haul in an unconscious party guest.

"Oh! Are you blushing?"

Hotaru frowned. "Two hundred thousand yen."

"Hey you _are--_What?"

The Alice of Invention pulled out a calculator and pushed in some buttons, and then showed Anna the numbers. "Two hundred thousand yen for stalling him. Pay up."

"WHAT?!" Anna nearly spit out her drink. "But that was just dinner!"

"That includes bothering fee." Hotaru answered in her usual bland tone. "If you don't want to pay extra, do something yourself."

"You told us he was leaving only this morning, giving us too little time to prepare, and then you charge me for keeping him here for a few hours when it was all your fault in the first place?" Anna reasoned. Maybe she didn't have enough money to pay.

"Can't argue with that." the black-haired woman replied. "Still, 200,000 yen."

"You're evil, you know that?"

Hotaru only held up the calculator.

* * *

The party's organizer stalled and didn't pay up until the party was over. As if that would discourage Imai Hotaru. She hung around till everyone was gone before getting her 100,000 yen, which was the only money Anna had on her. 

"You'll be paying interest." Hotaru told her as she placed the bills into her pocket.

The other woman laughed sheepishly and turned to leave. "Oh, by the way, check out at the lobby for me, will you?" She waved and closed the door behind her, leaving the room's key in the lock.

Hotaru glanced at the door, and then went to the kitchen to get her bag from the counter. As she walked through the living room, she noted just how out of control the party got. Beer cans were everywhere, the floor was strewn with paper plates and cups, there was a puddle of gods-knew-what on the floor, and there were food stains on the furniture. And on the couch…

On the couch was a sprawled, gaping, salivating, and sleeping Narumi. He wasn't so gentlemanly now, with a leg up on the couch's backrest and an arm dangling and nearly touching the floor (where a beer can lay on its side). Hotaru stared at him for a while, and then muttered, "Idiot." The rest of the guys who were there were idiots too, leaving the guest of honor like that.

Although…

Smiling to herself, Hotaru pushed a button on her watch, and then pulled out a camera. There were some golden shots right there. 'Former headmaster, wasted.' She might actually use them. As hard as it was to believe of a man in his forties, Narumi still had admirers, and the headmistress herself had overheard women of the accounting office dreaming to be his wife. The age bracket had risen since ten years ago, of course. It was all just silly. The man was that old and _still_ single. Didn't that tell them anything? Silly women.

Well, as silly as they were, at least she could get money from them. She went nearer, right beside the couch, and began taking shots in focus. Narumi gaping, Narumi drooling on the couch, sucking on his thumb…

Wait.

She took his hand, positioned it in a 'thumbs up', and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Maybe some middle-aged virgin would find that cute. Or not. Hey, Narumi admirers weren't her only target market.

Hotaru nearly used all her film on him. In the middle of her picture-taking, though, he suddenly moved and hugged her legs.

"Mm. Smells nice."

She lowered the camera and blinked at him. "You _are_ an idiot. Hmph. Sleep-talking…"

"Dun have a sense of humor, do you?"

Hotaru stiffened. Was he awake? She poked his face with her camera. Nothing. He was still sleeping.

"Hotaru…no sense of humor…" he continued, his eyes still closed.

The mentioned woman narrowed her eyes. "What an idiot." she repeated. She stared at him for a while, staying completely still.

"Hotaru-sama."

She looked up from Narumi to the window, where ten-year-old Mikan was hovering outside, calling her name. Hotaru walked to the window, letting Narumi's arms drop, and let the robot in.

The bot glided inside the hotel room with the help of her levitation upgrade. Like Hotaru, she had changed since her master's gradeschool days. No longer with a metal exoskeleton, she was covered in skin-like silicone and had human hair on her head tied in two pigtails. The robot was a perfect mirror of Mikan as she was at ten years old, every single detail painstakingly replicated by her inventor.

"Amanatsu, I want you to take care of Narumi for me." Hotaru told the robot.

Amanatsu took one look at the slumbering blonde and squealed, "NARUMI-SENSEI!" Hotaru winced as 'Mikan' ran to the couch. Maybe she shouldn't have made the personality program so accurate.

"Eh…what happened to Narumi-sensei?"

"He's drunk." Hotaru explained, joining her invention. "Stay here and watch over him tonight. If he wakes up, make him drink coffee. Did you bring the anti hang-over pills?"

Amanatsu nodded.

"Good. Drop them in his first cup of coffee. Oh, and don't forget to give him his bill."

"Roger!" The little Mikan replicate gave a snappy salute, and her creator turned to leave.

As Hotaru left through the door, she looked back to see Amanatsu placing a blanket over Narumi.

* * *

"SIX THOUSAND YEN??" 

The Mikan-looking android nodded. "One thousand yen for medication, one thousand for services, three thousand five hundred and thirty-two for the overnight stay, and five thousand yen for bothering fee."

Narumi would have had a heart attack. All that money... it was already a good portion of what he'd saved up for when he left! How was he going to have an easy start outside now?

"Why the insane cost?" he whined, staring at the number of zeroes on his bill.

"_If you don't have money, don't do anything stupid_, Hotaru-sama would explain. Pay up."

The blonde looked down at the robot. It looked just like Mikan when she was a kid, and Mikan was frowning up at him with her hands on her hips. The expression of disapproval was very accurate. "Can't I have a discount?" he pleaded.

"No way."

"Well, can I pay later?"

Amanatsu touched her chin with a finger. "You can, but you have to talk to Hotaru-sama about that."

Narumi heaved a sigh. Maybe he should have gone from the Academy earlier, or maybe he shouldn't have accepted all that punch and sake. Pushing the sixth cup of coffee Amanatsu had given him onto the table, he stood up and ran a hand through his hair. Strange; he should be having a massive hang-over right then. "Come on, let's go see your master."

* * *

Hotaru was in her office and, not too surprisingly, she was already working so early in the morning. Her laptop sat on the table in front of her, and the headmistress was typing away on it while sipping from her coffee cup once in a while. 

"Sit." she told him, never looking up from the laptop's screen. "Coffee? Akatsuki--"

"Ugh. No, no. No more coffee. Please." Narumi said, taking a seat in front of her desk. He took a moment to glance at the robot standing at Hotaru's left. Blue, glass eyes stared forward, and short, blond hair topped his head. It was a replica of Ruka, specifically during his high school years. Narumi could not forget how his students looked like. Come to think of it, he remembered that Ruka and Hotaru dated back in high school.

A phone rang somewhere, but Hotaru did not answer it. Narumi looked around to see a man standing near the window, pulling out the ringing phone from his coat pocket and answering it. He'd seen him before…

"Subaru?"

Hotaru looked up from her laptop to address Narumi. "He's an android. The real Subaru's in America, remember?"

"Oh." Narumi looked at the robot once again. Subaru-bot looked so real he forgot Hotaru had been in America with her brother before coming to Japan.

"You're here because of the money you owe me?" she said, breaking through his musings. She pushed her laptop aside.

"Yes. About that, why is it again that I owe you so much?"

She glanced at the robot sitting on the couch in one side of the office. "I trust Amanatsu gave you the breakdown?"

"She did." Narumi admitted, a bit embarrassedly. "I couldn't believe you could charge so much."

Hotaru steepled her fingers, her manner business-like from her voice to her expression. "And? I don't see why you can't pay it."

"You don't understand. What I have now is for when I leave…"

"I understand. You can pay it on an installment basis. And since I'm feeling generous, there'll be no interest. Is that all right?"

Narumi paused. "That sounds okay."

Hotaru nodded. "Right then." she replied, leaning back on her chair and stretching her finger (probably because of her having typed for hours). "I'll need an initial payment, of course, and a way to track you. Naru?"

The blonde blinked in confusion. Track him? And the only people who'd called him Naru was Serina and Misaki. He never recalled Hotaru calling him that before.

Hotaru had returned to typing on her laptop, and his questions paused in his mouth. That was when he noticed another robot beside him.

"You can give Naru your payment." Hotaru told him.

Now he understood; Naru was a robot. One based on him.

The resemblance was incredible. If the other robots looked younger, this one was most probably recent, and copied his present appearance perfectly. Wavy, blonde hair grew to the robot's shoulders and was tied with a piece of string behind him. The face was uncanny in its resemblance: well-defined cheeks and a prominent nose, a beautiful blend of Japanese and foreign features. Like the man it was based on, the android had smooth, spotless skin despite his age. A bit _too_ smooth, maybe, but Narumi's faint facial lines were only visible when he smiled or frowned, and the android right then did not express anything.

"I've never seen this one before." he commented, not knowing whether to be flattered or freaked out. "Is he new?"

"I finished him this week." Hotaru answered. It was remarkable how she could put her attention into so many things at once; her finger did not pause from typing.

"Amazing." Narumi said in genuine awe. "I didn't realize how much detail you put into your robots until now. They're like works of art."

Hotaru did not answer.

"Although as good-looking as I am now, I looked better ten years ago. Would've been nice to see that." the blonde added, smiling.

"You can pay any time now." Hotaru interrupted.

Narumi chuckled good-naturedly. "Alright, alright." He fished in his pockets for his wallet and placed some bills on robot Naru's open palm. The android bowed and said a thank you, then reached out to its human counterpart. Narumi leaned away hesitantly, but Hotaru reassured him.

"Don't worry. It's just a small tracker."

Naru's android hand went behind the man's ear and quickly retreated. Curious, Narumi reached behind his ear and felt something flat and circular sticking to his skin.

"You don't have to worry about it falling off." Hotaru explained. "It's also waterproof. It will give you no discomfort at all, but it will tell me where you are."

"Kind of like an Obedience Mark, huh?" Narumi mused out loud, remembering the dots below his eyes. "Or not quite. Is it a bug? You have enough of my pictures to blackmail me with."

"If I wanted to place a bug on you, you wouldn't know where it was. That is just there to make sure you pay me, or I send Amanatsu." she replied dispassionately.

Narumi was silent. He didn't know what to say to that really. To think she would go through all those means to get her six thousand yen!

"Don't you have a train to catch?" she said suddenly.

"Uh…yeah." Narumi hesitated.

"Best be off."

"Yeah. Thanks." It was Amanatsu who waved goodbye at him when he stepped out of the office.

* * *

"That wasn't very nice."

The tap-tapping of her fingers on the keyboard stopped and Hotaru looked up, staring at the android who had spoken. Amanatsu was looking at the door.

"What wasn't very nice?" she asked. Amanatsu had always been the most human-like of her creations, but for her to make an opinion like that…

"You sound like you don't care that he's leaving." the android explained, looking very upset.

Hotaru looked at her quizzically. The personality program seemed to be 'maturing', as ridiculous as that sounded. It was absurd, and yet Amanatsu was observing things and stating her opinion.

"He was a wonderful teacher, yes, but now he has to move on, and I can't do anything about that." she answered. Honestly, the only reason she would bother to hold a conversation with Amanatsu was when her invention started becoming more…human.

"Yes you can!" Amanatsu argued, standing from the couch. "You could have told him to stay. I like Narumi-sensei, and you do too!"

The inventor stared, her work forgotten. Subaru's robot counterpart continued to talk monotonously with someone on the phone, while the other two androids stood passively in their respective corners. Amanatsu, on the other hand, was showing emotion not befitting something built of metal.

"Amanatsu, there's something wrong with you…" Hotaru started to rise from her seat.

"Nothing's wrong with me." The android pouted, folding her arms in front of her.

Hotaru could only sigh. An amazing phenomenon or not, it was probably a mistake why Amanatsu had become that way. "Alright. But could you please stop your rambling? I'm busy."

"I will if you stop pretending you don't feel anything."

Narrowing her eyes, the headmistress sat back down, reaching for her cup of coffee. She frowned when the cold liquid touched her lips, and set the cup down. Giving Amanatsu her coldest stare, she replied, "You're sounding too much like Mikan. I never programmed you to spout ridiculous drivel."

With a dignified "hmph!" Amanatsu turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. Hotaru watched her, frowning in thought, and asked the Ruka-bot Akatsuki for a fresh cup of coffee.

* * *

Author's notes: Boring chapter, I know. That's what I get for writing through midterm weeks. 


End file.
